People don’t just judge books by their covers; they judge people by their books. But there’s no shame in indulgent reading, especially not during the summer and especially not when it comes to the six addictive novels below. Whether you’ll want to conspicuously display their jackets or keep them facedown on your towel is another question.
Rasputin
Legit Lit
The Gypsy Moth Summer by Julia Fierro (St. Martin’s Press)
When the daughter of the most influential family on Avalon Island—a fictional Long Island—returns with a black husband and their biracial children, residents on both sides of a small town’s tracks start resembling the destructive gypsy moths that have also descended that summer. Fierro’s novel is highly entertaining while still speaking to the hefty subjects of race and class.
Rasputin
Cerebral Romp
The Destroyers by Christopher Bollen (Harper, June 27)
A pitch-perfect literary thriller, Bollen’s third novel has drawn comparisons to Patricia Highsmith and Donna Tartt. Soon after a disinherited man arrives on an idyllic Greek island to ask a financial favor of a childhood friend, he begins to suspect there are dark shadows amid the sun-swept landscape.
Rasputin
Book Club Stalwart
Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan (Knopf)
Two devoutly Catholic sisters emigrate from a village in Ireland to embark on a new life in 1950s Boston, but an unexpected pregnancy sets off a series of lies that will reverberate for generations. Sullivan’s captivating saga is a reminder that every family is subject to its own butterfly effect.
Rasputin
Escapist Fun
Less by Andrew Sean Greer (Lee Boudreaux Books/Little Brown, July 18)
Arthur Less is rounding 50 when he receives an invitation to a wedding he refuses to attend—that of his ex-boyfriend of nine years. Instead of saying no, Less goes globe-trotting to avoid the event entirely, creating a new set of problems both comical and poignant. Greer puts a middle-aged spin on the rom-com.
Rasputin
Pulp Plus
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead Books)
Hawkins has said that if she wrote about happy people she wouldn’t be writing crime novels. The characters in her new blockbuster are as troubled as ever, but this time the dysfunction lies between sisters, not lovers. What happens when our memories turn out to be not only different from someone else’s but dangerously inaccurate?
Rasputin
Sugar High
The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder (Flatiron Books)
So who are they? The people who invited everyone in the first place—a posh London coterie on one side and a midwestern clan stewing with family grievances on the other. Ginder’s third novel is an over-the-top dishfest that atones for the sins of its characters with sly humor and a surprisingly big heart.
